Automatic call distributors (ACDs) are known. Such devices are typically used by service organizations where ever a large number of calls must be matched with a limited number of agents. The calls handled by ACDs may be either incoming or outgoing.
Sales organizations may use automatic call distributors (ACDs) to receive and distribute incoming calls to customer service agents. Often the sales organization will disseminate a single telephone number to its customers. As customers call the telephone number, the calls must be distributed to the organization's agents. In order to distribute incoming calls, the ACD must first be able to detect an incoming call, then select an available agent and, finally to route the call to the selected agent.
In order to select an agent and equalize a workload among a group of agents, the ACD must be able to detect when an agent is idle (i.e., not occupied with a prior call). When ever an agent is idle, the switch may assign a call to that agent. Idle time, in fact, is often used as a equitable means of determining which agent will receive the next incoming call.
In the case of either incoming or outgoing calls, it is important for an agent working at an agent station to have ready access to customer records. In addition to a telephone, an agent station also typically includes a computer terminal coupled to a system database (host) for purposes of providing and maintaining customer records. While an agent could individually identify customers to the host by the manual entry of a customer identifier, it is generally more efficient that the ACD identify a customer to the host.
Typically, the ACD identifies the customer to the host by use of the customer telephone number. On either incoming or outgoing calls, the ACD transfers the telephone number to the host along with an identifier of a selected agent when the call is assigned to the agent. In the case of incoming calls, the ACD may identify a caller's telephone number through PSTN features such as automatic number identification (ANI).
In large service organizations, many ACDs and agent groups may exist over wide geographic areas, often in different time zones. ACDs may be interconnected to share call processing. ACDs which become overloaded may transfer (overflow) some calls to other ACDs.
Where a call is transferred from a first ACD to a second ACD, it is important to transfer whatever information exists about the call to a destination ACD. However, a transferring ACD may not know which ACD will ultimately accept the call. Often, the receiving ACD is served by a different host than the transferring ACD. As a consequence, a message transmitted from one ACD or host is typically transmitted (broadcast) to all connected ACDs and hosts. Further, any message received by a first ACD or host is automatically re-broadcast to any other ACD or host connected to the first ACD or host. As ACD systems have increased in size, the number of messages transmitted has also increased. In some cases unnecessary messages degrade system operation. Accordingly, a need exists for a means of reducing message traffic within an ACD system.